BIOGRAPHIES OF SPEAKERS

Preferred name capitalized.

AGNES Mukabaranga is a private lawyer who served in the transitional parliament from 1994 to 2012.

AIMABLE Nibishaka was an advisor at the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion before being elected to Parliament in 2003, where he served until his death in 2011.

Aisa KIRABO Kacyira trained as a veterinarian and devoted her early career to working in farming communities before being elected to Parliament, and then became mayor of Kigali. She serves as deputy executive director of un habitat.

ALICE Urusaro Karekezi is an activist and lecturer with a background in law. She spearheaded campaigns during the first trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was an outspoken advocate for women giving testimony.

Aloisea INYUMBA was an influential member of the rpf in exile and served as the commissioner of finance. After 1994 she held numerous leadership posts, including minister of gender, head of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, governor, and senator. She died in 2012.

ALOYSIE Cyanzaire led the gacaca process when it began in 2000 and then became chief justice of the Supreme Court from 2003 to 2011, where she organized the country’s judicial reform.

ALPHONSINE Mukarugema was a secondary school teacher, headmistress, and women’s council member in southern Rwanda. In 2003 she was elected to Parliament, where she continues to serve.

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ALPHONSINE Niyigena is a businesswoman who serves on several corporate boards and is a mentor to the students at her Universal Beauty Academy.

ANGELINA Muganza was minister of gender and women’s development from 1999 to 2002 and has continued in public service since then.

ANITA Asiimwe is a physician specializing in public health, with a passion for children. She served as state minister of public health and is now the head of clinical services at Rwanda University Teaching Hospitals.

ANNE MARIE Musabyemungu is an activist who played an instrumental role in convincing Rwandan rebels fighting in Congo to come home, starting with her husband. She went on to serve as a member of Parliament.

ANNONCIATA Nyirabajiwabo, a devout Catholic and a widow due to the 1994 genocide, helped create a support network of women in her church to care for each other, including wives with husbands in prison.

APOPHIA Batamuliza enlisted in the rpf when she was twenty- six years old and living in Rwanda. She was demobilized in 2004 and works for the army reserve.

ATHANASIE Kabagwira is a sociologist dedicated to the promotion of women’s equality and equity. She has been an activist in Rwanda since the late 1980s.

BEATRICE Mukabaranga trained as a botanist and science teacher, worked in education, and then served as a senator until 2009. She chaired the Rwanda chapter of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (fawe) and continues to be an active member.

Bernard MAKUZA is a politician who served as prime minister from 2000 to 2011 and is president of the Senate. He was a senior advisor to Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who became prime minister in 1993 and was assassinated on the first day of the genocide.

BERTHILDE Niyibaho is an entrepreneur and founder of bn Producers, a company specializing in mushrooms.

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CAROLE Karemera is an artist, an art activist, and a mother. She grew up in Belgium, visited Rwanda in 1996 as a college student, then moved there a few years later.

CHANTAL Kayitesi is a nurse who joined with many other widows after the genocide to create avega, the Association for Widows of the Genocide.

CHRISTINE Tuyisenge became a lawyer to advocate for the rights of women and children especially, a passion she put into practice as a member of Haguruka and with the National Women Council.

CHRISTOPHE Bazivamo is an agriculture specialist and member of the East African Legislative Assembly, representing Rwanda.

CHRISTOPHER Kayumba is a columnist and senior lecturer at the University of Rwanda who has a PhD in peace and development research. He wrote the 2010 book Understanding High Presence of Women in Rwanda’s Parliament.

“CLAUDINE” became an activist in the 1980s and remains one today.

CONNIE Bwiza Sekamana joined the transitional parliament in 1999 and was reelected three times as an mp for the rpf.

DIDIER G. Sagashya was a key player in the country’s implementation of land reform, holding senior posts at the National Land Centre and then with the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority.

DINAH Musindarwezo is a gender specialist who heads the Pan- African women’s rights organization femnet.

DOMITILLA Mukantaganzwa is a lawyer who served on the twelve- person commission that drafted Rwanda’s constitution and led the National Service of Gacaca Courts for nearly a decade until it closed in 2012.

ELISEE Rutagambwa is a Catholic priest and headmaster of Saint Ignatius High School. Father Elisee received his PhD from Boston College, where he wrote his dissertation on the historical role of women in Rwanda.

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Emmanuel GASANA is inspector general for the Rwandan National Police, based in Kigali.

EMMANUEL Rutangusa is a Catholic priest who completed seminary in Kenya and returned to his native Rwanda in 1995 to serve in the Nyumba Parish. He is completing his doctorate at Rivier Catholic University in New Hampshire.

ESTHER Mbabazi became RwandAir’s first female Rwandan pilot at age twenty- four, achieving her lifelong dream. She is also a mentor to young Rwandans.

FATUMA Ndangiza has held many government posts since she returned to Rwanda in 1994, including the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, which she led for nearly eight years. She is deputy ceo of the Rwanda Governance Board.

FELIX Muramutsa is a researcher in psychosocial issues who served as the board chair for the women and children’s rights group Haguruka.

FLORENCE Kamili Kayiraba is a gender and grassroots democracy activist and served in various elected posts in local government, including mayor.

“GISELLE” attended one of the government’s “reeducation” camps before starting university.

GODELIEVE Mukasarasi is a counselor who specializes in trauma and founded the group sevota to support women who had survived rape during the genocide, especially those who had children as a result of their attack.

“GRACE” is an activist for women’s rights from rural Rwanda. Eager to fight against impunity for rapists on behalf of many women like her who survived rape, she went to the International Criminal Tribunal in Tanzania to give testimony in the case against Jean-Paul Akayesu.

IMMACULEE Ingabire is a journalist by training and an activist by conviction. Her reporting was instrumental in bringing to light the stories of women who survived rape during the genocide.

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INNOCENT Bulindi is ceo of the Business Development Fund, who has a keen interest in promoting financial inclusion for women and small business owners. He started his finance career in banking and telecoms.

ISABELLE Kalihangabo is a lawyer and former judge now serving in the Ministry of Justice. She studied law at University of Rwanda and Queen Mary University of London and was involved in Rwanda’s postgenocide legal reforms, including in devising Kinyarwanda language legal terminology.

JANE Abatoni Gatete is a senior trauma counselor and founding member of Rwandan Association of Trauma Counselors, which she has led since 1998.

JANE Umutoni studies women’s economic inclusion and is an assistant lecturer affiliated with the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Rwanda.

JANET Nkubana, the cofounder with her sister Joy of the company Gahaya Links, felt inspired by her background in arts to preserve and modernize Rwandan handicrafts and work to empower the women who make them.

Jeanne d’Arc GAKUBA is vice president of the Senate. She started her political career on the women’s council and quickly rose to become vice mayor of Kigali.

JEANNE D’ARC Kanakuze, a longtime activist, was a cofounder of the umbrella organization Pro- Femmes Twese Hamwe and the national leader of the Girl Scouts.

JEANNE D’ARC Mukasekuru is an activist for her community, Rwanda’s indigenous population known as the potters, and a mother of two.

JEANNETTE Kagame is first lady of Rwanda and head of the Imbuto Foundation, which, among its many programs, focuses on health and education programs for women and girls.

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John MUTAMBA has carved out a niche as a rare, long- committed male advocate for women’s rights. He consults for un Women, among other international agencies.

JOSEPHINE Dusabimana lives in the lakeside town of Kibuye, in western Rwanda, where she farms and takes care of her five children and dozen grandchildren.

JOY Mukanyange served as ambassador to Kenya and Tanzania, among other posts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She consults on projects related to women, peace, and security and is active in several civil society groups.

JOY Ndungutse is cofounder of Gahaya Links, a company she created with her sister Janet, that focuses on creating jobs and changing the lives of rural women.

JUDITH Kanakuze was an activist known especially for spearheading the law against gender- based violence that passed in 2008. She founded the early women’s group Réseau des Femmes and served on the constitution drafting commission and in Parliament. She died in 2010.

JULIE Uwamwiza’s career has long focused on economic empowerment of rural women. Her first job was with one of the country’s earliest women’s rights groups, Duterimbere.

JUSTINE Mbabazi is a gender specialist and rights activist who has worked as a legal advisor in postconflict countries across Africa and Asia. She closely consulted on numerous gender- equalizing reforms in her native Rwanda.

JUSTINE Uvuza is a gender and legal scholar who received her PhD from Newcastle University, where she wrote her dissertation on the experiences of Rwandan female leaders balancing family and political responsibilities.

LOUISE Mushikiwabo has been a member of President Kagame’s cabinet since she returned to Rwanda in 2008, serving first as minister of information, and since 2009 as minister of foreign affairs.

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MAMA DIANE and her mother are the only members of their family who survived the 1994 genocide. A survivor of rape, she chose to tell her story during the gacaca process. She’s a member of a local reconciliation organization in the town of Taba.

MAMA MADINA is passionate about the education of her children. She decided to give testimony during the gacaca trials as a woman who had been raped by her neighbors, because she felt it was important for the rebuilding of society.

MAMA REBECCA, aka Jeanne d’Arc Mukarunyange, is a woman who loved the army from childhood. She’s a reservist and feels the army is the main commitment in her life.

“MARIE CLAIRE” was elected to serve as a judge in a grassroots tribunal after the genocide.

MARIE Mukantabana was directing the National Insurance Company when she was tapped to become minister of gender and then vice president of the Senate. A member of the rpf, she chaired the rpf Women’s League.

MARIE THERESE Mukamulisa is a Supreme Court justice who started her legal career in the private sector and civil society. She was one of three women on the twelve- person constitutional drafting commission.

MARY Balikungeri became an activist during the antiapartheid movement and founded the Rwandan Women’s Network in 1997.

MATHILDE Mukantabana was a history professor in her adoptive home of California when she was tapped to serve as Rwandan ambassador to the United States. She has been an active organizer among the diaspora for many years.

NADINE Niyitegeka graduated from the Akilah Institute for Women in 2013 and since then has served as a development and recruitment associate for Rwanda’s first all- female college.

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ODA Gasinzigwa is a gender expert who has long focused her career on women’s empowerment. An expert in monitoring and evaluation, she serves as minister for gender and family promotion.

ODETTE Nyiramilimo is a physician, health activist, and long- serving senator. She is a member of the East African Legislative Assembly.

Oswald SAMVURA is a longtime activist promoting women’s participation, primarily through the women’s development group Seruka. He formerly worked with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion.

PATRICIA Hajabakiga led the Ministry for State, Lands, and Environment for ten years, first as permanent secretary and then as state minister, and now serves as a member of the East African Legislative Assembly.

Paul KAGAME is president of Rwanda. He grew up in a Ugandan refugee camp; later, as a general he led the rpf, which returned to the country and ended the 1994 genocide.

Paul RUTAYISIRE is a professor of modern African and Rwandan histories and the director of the Center for Conflict Management at the University of Rwanda.

Protais MUSONI was deputy secretary- general of the rpf and served as a cabinet minister.

RICHARD Masozera is a physician by training and a long- serving officer in the Rwandan Defense Forces and the government. He married Aloisea Inyumba in 1996, and they have two children.

“ROBERT” served as a judge during the grassroots justice process called gacaca.

ROSE Kabuye enlisted in the rpf while the group was organizing in exile and is the highest- ranking woman to serve. She retired in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel and has held civilian leadership positions, such as mayor of Kigali and member of Parliament.

ROSE Mukantabana trained as a lawyer and was the first woman elected to serve as president of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Rwanda’s Parliament.

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SISTER JUVENAL is a nun with the Benebikira congregation and the headmistress of the girls- only Maranyundo secondary school in Nyamata.

SPECIOSE Mukandutiye is a member of Parliament and served as president of the women’s caucus from 2007 to 2009.

SUZANNE Ruboneka, cocreator of Pro- Femmes in the early 1990s, is a women’s rights activist who has devoted her career to promoting a culture of peace in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

THERESE Bishagara is a senator and molecular biologist by training, who was appointed to lead the Kigali Health Institute when it opened in 1996, and stayed until 2004. She is a founding member of the Rwanda chapter of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (fawe).

VESTINE is an orphan of the genocide who became the caregiver for her younger sisters. Facing rejection from the family of the man who raped and impregnated her during the genocide, she spoke out during gacaca to establish the truth about the crimes and her daughter’s birth.

Wellars GASAMAGERA was a long- serving senator and before that a governor. He now heads the Rwanda Management Institute.

WINNIE Byanyima, a Ugandan diplomat and politician, took the helm of Oxfam International in 2013. She was an idolized elder sister and mentor to many Rwandan women as they started to organize.

ZAINA Nyiramatama founded the women’s and children’s rights group Haguruka to be a Rwandan unicef. She served as head of the National Commission of Children from 2011 until 2015, when she was appointed African Union Special Representative to Chad.

After 1994, women participated in elections not just as voters but as candidates too.